Bigfoot killed and other infamous American hoaxes

By By EVAN PAPPAS

on April 7, 2014 2:41 PM

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Rick Dyer, who had previously been involved in a 2008 Bigfoot hoax, has announced that his latest bigfoot body was a hoax. Dyer and his Bigfoot crew had a falling out last week which lead to Dyer’s reveal that the body he had been showing off at his nationwide tour was a hoax. Andrew Clacy, a spokesman from Dyer’s Bigfoot crew, confronted Dyer about the authenticity of the body and was told by Dyer that it was a fake.

The body was made by Twisted Toy Box in Washington and was constructed with latex, foam and camel hair. Chris Russell, of Twisted Toy Box, said he signed an nondisclosure agreement with Dyer to keep this a secret. Dyer revealed the body was a hoax, but maintains that he did shoot and kill a real Bigfoot, he said he didn’t take that on tour out of fear that it would be stolen. less

Rick Dyer, who had previously been involved in a 2008 Bigfoot hoax,... Photo-6132681.83457 - seattlepi.com

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In 2008, Rick Dyer and Matt Whitton announced that they had the body of Bigfoot frozen. Steve Kulls, host of Sasquatchdetective Radio, thawed the body and revealed the hoax. Some hair was burned and “melted into a ball uncharacteristic of hair,” Kulls said. Once the body had been more thoroughly thawed it was found to be made of rubber. Whitton and Dyer later confessed that it was a hoax to Kull, but did not show up to their arranged meeting.

Photo: The California filmmakers of this famous 1967 image said this was the real thing, but doubters have said the creature looked to be holding a metal thing that looked suspiciously like a beer can. less

In 2008, Rick Dyer and Matt Whitton announced that they had the body of Bigfoot frozen. Steve Kulls, host of Sasquatchdetective Radio, thawed the body and revealed the hoax. Some hair was burned and “melted ... more

In 2008, Rick Dyer and Matt Whitton announced that they had the... Photo-4447330.83457 - seattlepi.com

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On the tragedy hoax front:

Randy Lee Tenley was killed in 2012 while trying to impersonate Bigfoot on highway 93 in Montana. Tenley wanted to incite more Bigfoot sightings by dressing up in a military style ghillie suit and walking along the highway. He was struck by two cars, each driven by teenage girls, who were unable to stop by the time they saw him. less

In July 2005, Tom Biscardi claimed that he was “98 percent sure” his group would be able to catch a Bigfoot they had been tracking in California. One month later on “Coast to Coast AM with George Noory,” Biscardi claimed that he knew the location of a compound that held a live Bigfoot and announced a website where people could pay to watch bigfoot going about his routine.

On Aug. 23, 2005, Biscardi returned to C2C and told a story of how he was hoodwinked and misled by an acquaintance of his Great American Bigfoot Research Organization co-founder in Stagecoach, Nevada. Biscardi said the acquaintance claimed to have Bigfoot in captivity but never produced any proof. He ended up offering refunds for those who subscribed to his site.

Photo: Bigfoot hunter Tom Biscardi holds a photo of what he claims to be the mouth and teeth of a deceased Bigfoot or sasquatch creature during a news conference on Aug. 15, 2008, in Palo Alto, Calif. less

In July 2005, Tom Biscardi claimed that he was “98 percent... Photo-4447356.83457 - seattlepi.com

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The Snow Walker video was one of the most compelling pieces of Bigfoot evidence. It was released to promote the upcoming TV show “Paranormal Borderland” in 1996. It was supposedly filmed by two hikers in the Himalayas in 1992. After the cancellation of “Paranormal Borderland” the footage was revealed to be a hoax by the producers at Paramount.

The Snow Walker video was one of the most compelling pieces of Bigfoot evidence. It was released to promote the upcoming TV show “Paranormal Borderland” in 1996. It was supposedly filmed by two hikers in ... more

The Snow Walker video was one of the most compelling pieces of... Photo-6133102.83457 - seattlepi.com

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The Maury Island Incident took place in June 1947 when Harold Dahl reported seeing six “doughnut-shaped” objects in the sky while on his boat. Dahl claimed that some debris fell from one of the objects killing his dog and injuring his son.

Dahl took some of the debris to his employer Fred Crissman who then gave it to sci-fi magazine publisher Ray Palmer. Palmer had two US Army specialists follow up on the report and take a box of “evidence”.

However, their B-25 airplane crashed in August of 1947during a flight from Tacoma to San Francisco with the “evidence” on board, which spawned various conspiracy theories.
Dahl and Crissman later admitted to faking the whole story and that the debris that Dahl said had fallen from the flying objects were rocks from Maury Island Beach. The plane crash was confirmed to be the result of an engine fire.

The Maury Island Incident took place in June 1947 when Harold Dahl reported seeing six “doughnut-shaped” objects in the sky while on his boat. Dahl claimed that some debris fell from one of the objects ... more

The Maury Island Incident took place in June 1947 when Harold... Photo-5325809.83457 - seattlepi.com

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Joe Rudy and Chris Russo let helium balloons (not the ones shown for illustration) with red lights attached to them into the skies above Morris County, New Jersey from January 5 to February 19, 2009. There were sightings of strange lights in the sky reported by people in Morristown, Hanover Township, Morris Plains, Florham Park, and Madison.

Joe Rudy and Chris Russo let helium balloons (not the ones shown for illustration) with red lights attached to them into the skies above Morris County, New Jersey from January 5 to February 19, 2009. There were ... more

A Russian man filmed a video of a supposed dead alien body in the town of Kamensk. The video found massive success online. The chief editor of the local newspaper was scared that it might be the body of a child so he contacted the police to investigate. When the police found the creator of the video, he admitted that it was a hoax. The body was actually made of a chicken stuffed with bread.

Photo: This is a screen grab from the video claiming to be of a dead alien found in Kamensk, Russia. Turns out is was made from chicken parts and bread.

A Russian man filmed a video of a supposed dead alien body in the town of Kamensk. The video found massive success online. The chief editor of the local newspaper was scared that it might be the body of a child ... more

In an attempt to become reality TV stars, Richard and Mayumi Heene launched a silver balloon from their backyard and claimed that their son, Falcon Heene, was trapped inside. Major news publications pick up this news and millions of people follow the balloon’s story on the for hours. When the balloon deflates and lands, Falcon is nowhere to be found and a rescue effort is launched.

Falcon was found when he left his hiding spot in his house and walked into the kitchen.
When the Balloon incident was called a hoax, Richard Heene plead guilty to a felony and was sentenced to 90 days in jail, 60 days on work release, and fined $36,000. Mayumi plead guilty to a misdemeanor and was sentenced with 20 days of weekend jail. They still deny that it was a hoax.

In an attempt to become reality TV stars, Richard and Mayumi Heene launched a silver balloon from their backyard and claimed that their son, Falcon Heene, was trapped inside. Major news publications pick up ... more

In an attempt to become reality TV stars, Richard and Mayumi Heene... Photo-762759.83457 - seattlepi.com

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On November 24, 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper hijacked a plane flying from Portland to Seattle. Cooper, who said he had a bomb on the plane, demanded $200,000 and a parachute. Once the plane was in the air, Cooper made history by jumping out of the plane and parachuting down to the land below. He was never seen again.

Due to some miscommunication he has been known as D.B. Cooper for decades. After 40 years the case is still unsolved, but recently a woman who claims to be the niece of the infamous hijacker has produced evidence she says could prove her uncle, Lynn Doyle Cooper, is the man in question.

Marla Cooper has given the FBI a photo of L.D. Cooper and his guitar strap to the FBI.
No fingerprints were found on the guitar strap, but Marla says she remembers hearing two of her uncles plotting something “mischievous” before the hijacking took place. Her uncles left to go turkey hunting and when L.D. Cooper returned he was covered in blood, claiming that he had been in a car accident. Marla Cooper says she remembers her uncles exclaiming that they successfully hijacked an airplane.

Many people over the years have said they were related to D.B. Cooper, yet his identity or location still has never been determined.

On November 24, 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper hijacked a plane flying from Portland to Seattle. Cooper, who said he had a bomb on the plane, demanded $200,000 and a parachute. Once the plane was in the ... more

Ivar’s, the seafood chain in Seattle, made the news in 2009 when they announced the company’s founder, Ivar Haglund, had billboards installed underwater in the Puget Sound in 1954. Iver’s claimed Haglund put the billboards underwater in hopes that people of the future would be able to see them from their personal submarines.

Divers brought up the billboards which were covered in barnacles. The billboard advertised Clam chowder for 75 cents, the price it was in the 1950s. The discovery even prompted Iver’s to match the decades old price of the Clam Chowder.

Of course, this was an elaborate hoax set up by Iver’s. The documents were fake and the Billboards were a wooden prop, but the successful hoax increased sales of the Clam Chowder over 400 percent and customer counts were up by 5 to 10 percent over the previous year.

Ivar’s, the seafood chain in Seattle, made the news in 2009 when they announced the company’s founder, Ivar Haglund, had billboards installed underwater in the Puget Sound in 1954. Iver’s claimed Haglund ... more

Ivar’s, the seafood chain in Seattle, made the news in 2009 when... Photo-6133201.83457 - seattlepi.com

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Christian Gerhartseiter, German immigrant and conman, is now serving 27 years for the murder of John Sohus. Gerhartseiter has gone by many names over the years. Chris Crowe, who worked at three Wall Street investment firms in the 80s; Christopher Chichester, British royalty and descendent of Sir Francis Chichester; and perhaps most famously Clark Rockefeller, of the wealthy and influential Rockefeller family.

Photo: Christian Gerhartsreiter from Germany speaks with his lawyer as he attends his murder trial at Los Angeles Superior Court on August 15, 2013 in Los Angeles. Gerhartsreiter, the alleged Rockefeller impostor, was sentenced to 27 years for killing his landllord, John Sohus in February 1985. (JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images)

Christian Gerhartseiter, German immigrant and conman, is now serving 27 years for the murder of John Sohus. Gerhartseiter has gone by many names over the years. Chris Crowe, who worked at three Wall Street ... more

They lived in a home valued at $1.2 million, drove a Jaguar, and accumulated $261,703 in housing subsidies, medical benefits, and food stamps. Silverstein paid $334,000 in restitution and Shimonova was ordered to pay $261,000 in restitution.

Photo: The Island Drive South home raided by federal investigators on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011. Courtesy of the King County Assessor's Office. less

A Seattle couple living in a million dollar home on Lake Washington has been revealed to have collected over $100,000 in welfare in 2012. David Silverstein and Lyudmila Shimonova, plead guilty to theft of ... more

A Seattle couple living in a million dollar home on Lake Washington... Photo-1855291.83457 - seattlepi.com

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In 2005, Jennifer Wilbanks and John Mason were set to be married until Wilbanks disappeared four days before the wedding. Wilbanks’ disappearance sparked a massive search nationwide and attracted extensive media attention.

Wilbanks was found 3 days later in Albuquerque, New Mexico claiming that she had been kidnapped by a man and a woman, sexually assaulted, and dropped off in Albuquerque.
Wilbanks later confessed that the entire story was a lie and that she fled because she was overwhelmed by the pressures of the wedding. She was charged with giving false information to the police and was sentenced to two years of probation and 120 hours of community service.

Photo: The press gathers in the rain outside the home of Jennifer Wilbanks, the former missing bride-to-be, and her fiance John Mason April 30, 2005 in Duluth, Georgia. Wilbanks turned herself in to Albuquerque, New Mexico police, saying she was not kidnapped, but had cold feet regarding her wedding scheduled for April 30 to fiance John Mason. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images)

In 2005, Jennifer Wilbanks and John Mason were set to be married until Wilbanks disappeared four days before the wedding. Wilbanks’ disappearance sparked a massive search nationwide and attracted extensive ... more

In 2005, Jennifer Wilbanks and John Mason were set to be married... Photo-6133217.83457 - seattlepi.com

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Manti Te’o, then linebacker for the University of Notre-Dame, was caught up in one of the strangest hoaxes of recent years. In September 2012, Te’o learned of the death of his grandmother and his girlfriend within the same day. He went on to play an amazing game against Michigan State and became one of the most inspirational and uplifting stories of the year.

But there was one problem. His girlfriend never existed.
Te’o’s fictional girlfriend was Lennay Kekua, a student at Stanford. Kekua claimed to have been in a car accident in 2012 and during her recovery the doctor had found that she had leukemia. The charade finally ended when Deadspin published an article detailing the hoax and outing Ronaiah Tuisasosopo as Kekua. During an appearance on Dr. Phil, Tuisasosopo confessed that he fell in love with Te’o, who still maintains that he was the victim of the hoax and was not involved in any way.

Photo: Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o, right, speaking with host Katie Couric during an interview for Katie, in New York. Te'o has told Katie Couric that he briefly lied about his online girlfriend after discovering she didn't exist, while maintaining that he had no part in creating the hoax. Pressed by Couric to admit that he was in on the deception, Te'o said he believed that his girlfriend Lennay Kekua had died of cancer and didn't lie about it until December. less

Manti Te’o, then linebacker for the University of Notre-Dame, was caught up in one of the strangest hoaxes of recent years. In September 2012, Te’o learned of the death of his grandmother and his girlfriend ... more

Photo: Lorenzo Bevilaqua, AP

Manti Te’o, then linebacker for the University of Notre-Dame, was... Photo-4080090.83457 - seattlepi.com

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Stephen Glass was a journalist who wrote for The New Republic and was exposed for fabricating dozens of articles from 1995 to 1998. It wasn’t until Glass wrote a story called “Hack Heaven” which detailed a young hacker that got hired by one of his targets to help improve their security, that Adam Penenberg from Forbes.com went on a lengthy research project to verify the facts in the article. He ended up exposing Glass as fraud. The New Republic would later find that over half of his stories for the magazine had either partial fabrications or were full blown works of fiction.

Photo: Glass was later the subject of the movie “Shattered Glass.” Glass is pictured in a framegrab from "60 Minutes" in 2003. less

Stephen Glass was a journalist who wrote for The New Republic and was exposed for fabricating dozens of articles from 1995 to 1998. It wasn’t until Glass wrote a story called “Hack Heaven” which detailed ... more

Photo: AP Photo/CBS News

Stephen Glass was a journalist who wrote for The New Republic and... Photo-4047025.83457 - seattlepi.com

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Jayson Blair, a young reporter who had made his way to a lead reporter position at the New York Times, was found to have plagiarized and fabricated his stories for years and was exposed and fired in 2003.
Blair was found to have plagiarized when the San Antonio Express-News asked the Times about similarities between Blair’s story and one of their own reporters’ story.

Photo: Ex-New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, greets producer Robert Evans at a party for Peter Bart who is launching his new book called 'Dangerous Company' December 8, 2003 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by J. Emilio Flores/Getty Images)

Jayson Blair, a young reporter who had made his way to a lead reporter position at the New York Times, was found to have plagiarized and fabricated his stories for years and was exposed and fired in 2003. ... more

Jayson Blair, a young reporter who had made his way to a lead... Photo-6133337.83457 - seattlepi.com

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Bethany Storro suffered severe burns after she claimed she was attacked by a woman who threw acid in her face. Her story had holes and the burns did not look like the result of thrown acid. Storro later confessed that she burned herself, and that she suffered from body dysmorphic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and depression. She plead guilty to a misdemeanor and received a one year suspended jail sentence, 240 hours of community service, and was ordered to repay almost $4000 in police overtime.

Photo: With her face severely burned and wrapped in mummy bandages, Bethany Storro gained worldwide sympathy in 2010 when she described a startling assault. Storro, who is white, had said a black woman had randomly thrown acid on her face on a Vancouver, Wash. street. Then she admitted she had burned her face herself and made up the story. Screen grab is from The Columbian newspaper, which interviewed Storro. Story is here.

Rosie Ruiz won the female category at the 1980 Boston Marathon. However, the facts clearly didn’t add up which lead to suspicion of her legitimacy. None of the other runners remembered her running the race or passing them, she didn’t remember key things locations during the race, and there were witnesses who saw her burst out of a crowd of spectators near the end of the race to claim her victory. When news of her cheating came out she was disqualified and stripped of her title.

Photo: Rosie Ruiz was declared the winner of the Boston Marathon in 1980, clocking in with the third fastest run in women’s history at the time. But officials later said she hadn't run the whole thing - she had burst from a crowd near the finish, witnesses said - and she was stripped of her victory. less

Rosie Ruiz won the female category at the 1980 Boston Marathon. However, the facts clearly didn’t add up which lead to suspicion of her legitimacy. None of the other runners remembered her running the race or ... more

On April 1st, 1957, the BBC broadcast a report about a family in Switzerland who were harvesting their crop of spaghetti. The report was on the Panorama broadcast and showed a woman plucking individual strands of spaghetti from trees. This hoax was responsible for hundreds of phone calls to the BBC from people asking about the story and wanting to grow their own spaghetti crops. This hoax was one of the first times television was used in an April fools’ day joke.

On April 1st, 1957, the BBC broadcast a report about a family in... Photo-5384498.83457 - seattlepi.com

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In 1985, George Plimpton wrote a story for sports illustrated about an up and coming pitcher named Sidd Finch. Supposedly Finch could pitch over 160 mph and had never played a game of baseball before. Plimpton wrote that Sidd learned to “the art of the pitch” from Tibetan monks. Sports Illustrated admitted the story was a hoax on April 15th, but Plimpton had actually left a clue in the story. The first letter of each word in the subhead spelt “Happy April Fools Day."

Photo: George Plimpton connects with the baseball for a hit (Photo by RJ Capak/WireImage)